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  1. Chin MC, Sivasampu S, Wijemunige N, Rannan-Eliya RP, Atun R
    Health Policy Plan, 2020 Feb 01;35(1):7-15.
    PMID: 31625556 DOI: 10.1093/heapol/czz117
    In Malaysia, first-contact, primary care is provided by parallel public and private sectors, which are completely separate in organization, financing and governance. As the country considers new approaches to financing, including using public schemes to pay for private care, it is crucial to examine the quality of clinical care in the two sectors to make informed decisions on public policy. This study intends to measure and compare the quality of clinical care between public and private primary care services in Malaysia and, to the extent possible, assess quality with the developed economies that Malaysia aspires to join. We carried out a retrospective analysis of the National Medical Care Survey 2014, a nationally representative survey of doctor-patient encounters in Malaysia. We assessed clinical quality for 27 587 patient encounters using data on 66 internationally validated quality indicators. Aggregate scores were constructed, and comparisons made between the public and private sectors. Overall, patients received the recommended care just over half the time (56.5%). The public sector performed better than the private sector, especially in the treatment of acute conditions, chronic conditions and in prescribing practices. Both sectors performed poorly in the indicators that are most resource intensive, suggesting that resource constraints limit overall quality. A comparison with 2003 data from the USA, suggests that performance in Malaysia was similar to that a decade earlier in the USA for common indicators. The public sector showed better performance in clinical care than the private sector, contrary to common perceptions in Malaysia and despite providing worse consumer quality. The overall quality of outpatient clinical care in Malaysia appears comparable to other developed countries, yet there are gaps in quality, such as in the management of hypertension, which should be tackled to improve overall health outcomes.
    Matched MeSH terms: Ambulatory Care/standards
  2. Khor BH, Chinna K, Abdul Gafor AH, Morad Z, Ahmad G, Bavanandam S, et al.
    BMC Health Serv Res, 2018 Dec 04;18(1):939.
    PMID: 30514284 DOI: 10.1186/s12913-018-3702-9
    BACKGROUND: This study aimed to assess the situational capacity for nutrition care delivery in the outpatient hemodialysis (HD) setting in Malaysia by evaluating dietitian accessibility, nutrition practices and patients' outcomes.

    METHODS: A 17-item questionnaire was developed to assess nutrition practices and administered to dialysis managers of 150 HD centers, identified through the National Renal Registry. Nutritional outcomes of 4362 patients enabled crosscutting comparisons as per dietitian accessibility and center sector.

    RESULTS: Dedicated dietitian (18%) and visiting/shared dietitian (14.7%) service availability was limited, with greatest accessibility at government centers (82.4%) > non-governmental organization (NGO) centers (26.7%) > private centers (15.1%). Nutritional monitoring varied across HD centers as per albumin (100%) > normalized protein catabolic rate (32.7%) > body mass index (BMI, 30.7%) > dietary intake (6.0%). Both sector and dietitian accessibility was not associated with achieving albumin ≥40 g/L. However, NGO centers were 36% more likely (p = 0.030) to achieve pre-dialysis serum creatinine ≥884 μmol/L compared to government centers, whilst centers with dedicated dietitian service were 29% less likely (p = 0.017) to achieve pre-dialysis serum creatinine ≥884 μmol/L. In terms of BMI, private centers were 32% more likely (p = 0.022) to achieve BMI ≥ 25.0 kg/m2 compared to government centers. Private centers were 62% less likely (p care in Malaysian HD centers. Changes in stakeholder policy are required to ensure that dietitian service is available in Malaysian HD centers.

    Matched MeSH terms: Ambulatory Care/standards*
  3. Ganasegeran K, Perianayagam W, Manaf RA, Jadoo SA, Al-Dubai SA
    ScientificWorldJournal, 2015;2015:714754.
    PMID: 25654133 DOI: 10.1155/2015/714754
    This study aimed to explore factors associated with patient satisfaction of outpatient medical care in Malaysia. A cross-sectional exit survey was conducted among 340 outpatients aged between 13 and 80 years after successful clinical consultations and treatment acquirements using convenience sampling at the outpatient medical care of Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital (HTAR), Malaysia, being the country's busiest medical outpatient facility. A survey that consisted of sociodemography, socioeconomic, and health characteristics and the validated Short-Form Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire (PSQ-18) scale were used. Patient satisfaction was the highest in terms of service factors or tangible priorities, particularly "technical quality" and "accessibility and convenience," but satisfaction was low in terms of service orientation of doctors, particularly the "time spent with doctor," "interpersonal manners," and "communication" during consultations. Gender, income level, and purpose of visit to the clinic were important correlates of patient satisfaction. Effort to improve service orientation among doctors through periodical professional development programs at hospital and national level is essential to boost the country's health service satisfaction.

    Study site: outpatient medical care of Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital (HTAR
    Matched MeSH terms: Ambulatory Care/standards*
  4. Azmi N, Chan WK, Goh KL
    BMC Gastroenterol, 2012;12:96.
    PMID: 22839572 DOI: 10.1186/1471-230X-12-96
    BACKGROUND: There are limited published studies on patient satisfaction towards endoscopy from Asian countries. Different methods of evaluation of patient satisfaction may yield different results and there is currently no study to compare results of on-site versus phone-back interviews.
    METHOD: On-site followed by phone-back interviews were carried out on consecutive patients attending the outpatient gastroscopy service of University of Malaya Medical Centre between July 2010 and January 2011 using the modified Group Health Association of America-9 (mGHAA-9) questionnaire. The question on technical skill of endoscopist was replaced with a question on patient comfort during endoscopy.
    RESULTS: Seven hundred patients were interviewed. Waiting times for appointment and on gastroscopy day, and discomfort during procedure accounted for over 90% of unfavorable responses. Favorable response diminished to undesirable level when waiting times for appointment and on gastroscopy day exceeded 1 month and 1 hour, respectively. Satisfaction scores were higher for waiting time for appointment but lower for personal manner of nurses/staff and explanation given during phone-back interview. There was no significant difference in satisfaction scores for other questions, including overall rating between the two methods.
    CONCLUSION: Waiting times and discomfort during procedure were main causes for patient dissatisfaction. Phone-back interview may result in different scores for some items compared with on-site interview and should be taken into account when comparing results using the different methods.

    Study site: University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC), Lembah Pantai, Kuala Lumpur.
    Matched MeSH terms: Ambulatory Care/standards*
  5. Lim TO, Suppiah A, Ismail F, Selvan T, Khan NKI, Ngah BA
    Singapore Med J, 1992 Apr;33(2):174-6.
    PMID: 1621123
    A study was undertaken to determine the extent of morbidity associated with asthma and to audit the management of asthma in two out-patient clinics of two district hospitals. Patients were recruited for the study during a 3-month period from December 1990 to February 1991. Seventy asthmatic patients were studied. Eighty-six percent of the patients had their sleep disturbed by asthma, 77% took daily medication regularly, 63% felt that their activities were restricted by asthma, 60% had at least one acute exacerbation in the preceding six months. Of those who had their peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) measured, 40% had a PEFR below 50% predicted, and only 11% had normal PEFR (greater than 80% predicted). The morbidity of asthma was thus considerable. On the other hand, the drug treatment of these asthmatics was grossly inadequate. They were prescribed on average 2.1 item of drugs, which for most patients comprised an oral beta agonist and a theophylline. Only 43% of the patients received inhaler therapy, but no patients were given steroids, inhaled or oral. The drug treatment was unrelated to the severity of patients' asthma. Further, objective measurement of severity was under-used in the assessment of asthma, only 8.5% of patients ever had their PEFR recorded. This study has found that asthma is poorly managed in out-patient clinics. We need to improve the training of doctors in the optimal management of asthma.
    Study site: General outpatient clinics, district hospitals, Pahang, Malaysia
    Matched MeSH terms: Ambulatory Care/standards*
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